


Parenting Future Pirates

by Kereea



Series: ASL In Red [4]
Category: One Piece
Genre: ASL Brothers, Gen, Humor, M/M, Parent-Child Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-19 18:40:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5977123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kereea/pseuds/Kereea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The escapades of Shanks and Benn, Mihawk, and Kuzan and Rocinante as they try to raise their boys right, no matter how much these brats decide to drive them nuts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lost: Small Swordsman, Answers to Zoro

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mihawk discovers his son's navigation skills.

Zoro was missing.

This was very much not something Mihawk had experience with. He was perfectly used to being able to keep an eye on anyone he wished, opponent or ally, and so the idea of Zoro simply slipping his notice was unthinkable.

And yet here he was, wandering the market or the town they had stopped in for supplies.

He’d awoken that morning to a note stating that Zoro was hungry and had gone to get breakfast since he didn’t want to wake Mihawk.

Zoro was an independent child, so this was unsurprising. The note had at least been specific, listing a bakery they’d passed on the way to the inn. It was within five minutes’ walk for a child Zoro’s size, easily.

But Zoro had not been there. According to the owner, he had never showed up.

Mihawk had not been too worried. Zoro was a willful ten year old, it wasn’t too unreasonable to assume he’d decided to eat elsewhere.

But this was a small village. There were only so many places to get food. And none of them had a green haired little boy come in, though several had seen him walk past…some several times.

That was the point where he began to worry.

Now that he thought about it, Zoro had never been out of his sight before. Or at least not so far that Mihawk hadn’t caught up in an instant or not exactly where Mihawk had left him to train for a few hours.

…Had he ever actually sent Zoro off anywhere? Not on his island, the Humandrills were too strong for the boy at the moment. The ship was too small to possibly lose sight of him on. So no, no he had not. And he did sometimes lose his way in the castle…

Mihawk paused to focus, letting his Observation Haki seek Zoro out.

…Nothing? Nothing at all?

Mihawk began to re-run what he knew in his head. The island was not tiny, no, but also not large enough so that even if Zoro had wandered outside of town he was outside the range of Mihawk’s Haki.

He went to the docks. Perhaps someone had been foolish enough to _take_ Zoro? Or the kid had tried to run away?

He approached the dock master, “I’m looking for a boy. This tall, green hair, should have swords.”

That would be the best way to tell if Zoro had been taken, a kidnapper would have disarmed him.

“That kid? Yeah, he was around a few times this morning,” the older woman said. “Real piece of work. He was looking for that bakery near the inn and ended up out here!”

…He hadn’t considered that Zoro’s sense of direction was so bad as to not notice whether or not the destination was in the town or on the docks. “When was this?”

“Oh, very early. I turned him around and pointed him in the right direction, but then twenty minutes later he was back again!” she laughed.

Mihawk felt his left eye twitch. “You must be joking.”

“Oh, I wish. Poor kid was hungry, too. Offered to send one of my guys with him to find his parents but he said he was fine…not sure where he wandered off to after.”

Of course not. Mihawk frowned. Zoro was no longer on the island… “Where is the next nearest island?”

“Oh, not too far, it’s just…you don’t think he’s there, do you?” she asked, wide-eyed.

“He’s not here,” Mihawk said, heading for his ship.

.o.o.o.

Zoro was not, it turned out on the next island. Or the one after that. He was, in fact, back at the castle and confused as Mihawk as to how he had gotten there.

“But we’re out of food so can you get back soon?” Zoro asked into Den Den Mushi. “I tricked one of the Humandrills into imitating a person giving me food but then it tried to eat me. I’m hungry.”

“You are never to go anywhere unsupervised ever again,” Mihawk said. “Also, you’re grounded.”

“For what?”

“For causing me trouble,” Mihawk said.

And if he maybe indulged the urge he had to hug Zoro tightly upon seeing him again and then refused to let him out of his sight _period_ for a few days…well, that was his business.


	2. Gone Hunting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shanks and Benn get another reminder that the ASL Bros are used to self-sufficiency and no supervision.

“Where’s Shanks and the boys?” Benn asked as Lucky Roo, Clarke, Mr. Monkey, and Kincaid returned to the ship.

“Oh, uh, they went exploring,” Kincaid said. Clarke and Lucky Roo shared nervous looks.

“…Gentlemen, do I need to remind you what happens when you lie to the First Mate?” Benn asked sternly.

“Okay, so, Shanks said you’d catch on quick, but we can’t tell you until you promise not to get mad,” Lucky Roo said. “Which I told him would only make you really mad but you know Shanks, stubborn…”

“What. Happened?” Benn demanded.

“Well, the kids did go exploring…but without Shanks. Or telling us when they left,” Kincaid explained.

“They gave my lil’ bud a note,” Clarke said, Mr. Monkey holding up a scrap of paper.

Benn took it. “We’re bored. Going to check out the jungle. Will bring back anything if we kill it.”

“…At least we know they probably won’t go hungry?” Lucky Roo offered as Benn pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Okay, Yasopp is in charge, I’m going to go find the kids…and the captain…” Benn sighed. “Where’d you last see them?”

“The boys or Shanks?” Clarke asked.

“Both,” Benn said.

“Well, we only noticed the boys were missing when we were about to go into a bar and were going to ask them to take Mr. Monkey to the park,” Kincaid said. “And then Shanks ran off to find them.”

“I know they were there when we were looking at weapons in the marketplace, Ace was giving the knives this really intent look—incidentally, I have a great suggestion for his birthday now,” Lucky Roo said. “So they’ve only been missing maybe an hour.”

“Do you know how much ground those three can cover in an hour?” Benn asked.

“No, but they grew up on a huge mountain so it would not surprise me if it is a _lot_ ,” Clarke said.

“You’d be right. All right, no one break the ship while I’m gone,” Benn said.

.o.o.o.

Where were they? Shanks frowned, wishing he was better at using Observation Haki for tracking. The jungle was pretty damn big, so they could be anywhere…

Maybe he should have gone back for Benn. He was better at tracking, even if Shanks was pretty sure they were going to be in separate cabins for a bit because of this.

How had he lost the kids? This was, what, his fifth month on the job? And he’d already lost them!

“Shanks, you went in a big circle you idiot!”

Well, at least the others had sent Benn after him. “Hey, Benn.”

“Do you even know how to hunt people down?” Benn demanded. “No, of course you don’t!”

“…Sorry,” Shanks said.

“Don’t be sorry, be working on finding the kids!” Benn scolded.

“I _was_!” Shanks said.

“And you went in a _circle_!” Benn said.

“It’s not my fault this place has confusing geography!” Shanks said.

“No, but it is your fault that you’re panicking and walking in circles,” Benn muttered.

“Well you’re here now so you track them down and I’ll use Haki to make sure nothing eats us,” Shanks muttered grumpily.

“Okay,” Ben sighed, shoving some star hairs out of his face. “They’re used to mountains, so they probably went for the hills. We’ll start there.”

They walked for a tense half an hour, Shanks’ worry alleviated only for small bursts of snugness when he knocked out various wildlife with Conqueror’s Haki. Finally Benn stopped, “Wait a second. This way.”

“Sense them?” Shanks asked, poking around with his own Observation Haki. No good. He didn’t have Benn’s range.

“Think so…they’re definitely running around and shit, don’t know if they’re in trouble or just playing,” Benn said, his pace picking up.

“Please don’t be trouble,” Shanks sighed. Oh well, if it was trouble, he’d kill trouble and then take the kids home…

“So, if something’s after them you kill it while I grab them?” Benn asked.

“You read my mind. Or remembered which one of us has two hands,” Shanks chuckled.

Benn snickered slightly and Shanks counted it as a win.

Suddenly he could sense them too, “Okay, we’ve got to be getting closer…”

Suddenly the energy they were following dyed down to a lower level.

“Did someone get hurt?” Benn wondered. They looked at each other and then broke into a run.

“Luffy, Sabo, Ace!” Shanks yelled. “Where the heck are you?”

After a moment or two there was a loud yell of “Hi Shanks!” that could only be Luffy.

“Well that doesn’t sound like trouble,” Benn panted as they slowed down.

“Yet,” Shanks muttered. Within a minute they were in a clearing…where the boys were trying to drag a large tiger behind them.

…Well that explained things.

“Shanks!” Luffy cheered, letting go of the tiger and catapulting himself at his dad. Shanks caught him on instinct as Luffy kept babbling, “We caught dinner!”

“Luffy you could eat a fifth of that on your own,” Benn said, shaking his head.

“…We caught part of dinner!” Luffy amended.

“Thank goodness you’re okay,” Shanks sighed hugging Luffy close.

“Why wouldn’t we be?” Ace asked. “This thing’s pretty scrawny.”

“Boys…you ran off on an unknown island,” Shanks said. “Where you don’t know anyone who can help you or where anything is or _what the wildlife you are hunting is like_.”

“…Oh,” Sabo said, eyes widening.

“Yeah, oh,” Benn said, kneeling down and bringing Ace and Sabo into a hug, to Ace’s considerable grumbling.

“We’re fine!” the oldest brother complained.

“Ace, this is what parents do after they have been scared half to death by their reckless children. No complaining,” Benn said.

“Oh, and you’re grounded for a week,” Shanks said.

“What?” Luffy whined.

“Kids, you gave your poor Papa Shanks and me heart attacks,” Benn said. “You need to learn to not do what you did today.”

“Sorry,” Sabo offered.

“…We’ll still eat the tiger. Benn, help me with it,” Shanks decided, setting Luffy down. “Boys, get your pipes. Holy shit you killed a tiger with pipes…”

“What were we supposed to use, rocks?” Sabo asked.

Benn shot him a look. Sabo scuffed his foot in the dirt, “Sorry. Again.”

“New rule. No running off to hunt without telling a _person_. And if they tell you no, you don’t do it,” Benn said as he and Shanks lifted the tiger.

“Okay…” Sabo and Luffy said.

Benn frowned at Ace. Ace nodded, “Fine.”

“Good. I hope Cookie knows how to cook tiger,” Shanks muttered. “Let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thankfully for Kuzan and Roci, losing Law was not an option so they never had to deal with this shit...until he ran away.
> 
> I recently made an askblog for the ASL in Red parents here: http://asktheaslinredparents.tumblr.com/


	3. Benn Explains Dating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ace is sad, so Benn cheers him up with the story of how Shanks utterly screwed up asking Benn out.

 The boys often got into mischief when left alone at ports. And despite Benn, Shanks and the entire crew’s best efforts, they often managed to sneak off on their own.

 At least these days they tended to at least stay in the general vicinity of whoever was watching them, and Benn found them in in a small park not too far from the bar. True, he located them by the sound of yelling, but frankly the fact that it took less than ten minutes was gratifying.

 Sabo was holding… _Luffy_ back? Huh. Usually it was Ace they had to stop from hitting people. “Boys!”

 “Hi Dad,” Sabo said weakly. Oh boy, they were calling him Dad. Something was going on, all right. “Little help?”

 Benn grabbed Luffy by the collar, picking him up as the little boy kept yelling at the other boys. Even at almost-ten he was still pretty light. He noticed Ace was scuffing his foot in the dirt.

 …This was starting to make sense. Someone had upset Ace, but in a way that made him sad instead of angry. Luffy had lashed back, and Sabo was too busy trying to keep Luffy from seriously hurting anyone to get pissed off himself.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

 “Can we just go?” Ace asked.

 “All right,” Benn said, bonking Luffy with a Haki-coated hand when he tried to launch a projectile punch at another boy. “Cut that out!”

 “But he was mean to Ace!” Luffy whined as they headed back to the ship.

 “Shut _up_ , Luffy,” Ace said.

 “Don’t talk to your brother like that, especially when he’s defending you,” Benn said, setting Luffy down to let him walk. “Now what happened?”

 Ace mumbled something as they reached the gangplank.

 “What?” Benn asked.

 Ace mumbled again, looking embarrassed. Sabo rolled his eyes, “He told a boy he was cute. They were jerks about it.”

 Ah. “Sorry about that, Ace,” Benn said.

 Ace shrugged, still looking morose. Benn had an idea.

 He grabbed Ace and tossed him over his shoulder, heading for the boys’ room.

 “Hey!” Ace yelled, sufficiently distracted. “Put me down! I’m not Luffy!”

 “Yeah! He’s not me; pick _me_ up again!” Luffy said, bounding after them with Sabo.

 Benn tossed Ace onto his bed, “Feeling better?”

 “You’re insane,” Ace groaned, flopping backwards.

 “Hey it took you mind off it,” Benn said, sitting next to him. “And trust me Ace, one day there’s going to be someone who’s going to be happier than _anything_ to call you their boyfriend.”

 Ace glanced up, “You think?”

 “Yeah!” Luffy said. “Cause you’re awesome!”

 Benn smiled as Sabo and Luffy rammed Ace into the pillows with tackle-hugs.

 “I ever tell you kids how Shanks and I got together?” Benn asked.

 “No,” Ace said, looking interested as he managed to get Sabo in a headlock. “…It’s not dumb, right?”

 “No but Shanks sure as hell was,” Benn laughed.

 “What?” Luffy asked, wriggling out from under his brothers. “No way! Shanks is so cool!”

 “I’m sure he’s glad you think that Luffy, but Shanks was definitely not ‘cool’ when it came to asking me out…in that it took him way too long to get around to it,” Benn said.

 “So what happened?” Sabo asked.

 “Well…” Benn chuckled.

.o.o.o.

  _Benn glanced around. This was not a bar._

_That was weird. Then again, Shanks would usually drag more people than just him to a bar._

_This was a restaurant._

_“You like the food here?” he asked._

_“Huh? No, never been here before,” Shanks said idly. “But I asked around and people said it was good, so…”_

_Huh. “Never knew you liked restaurants,” Benn said. “You know, enough to ask around.”_

_“They can be nice,” Shanks shrugged. “…Think I’m supposed to take my hat off?”_

_“I don’t think it matters too much, Captain. Do it if you feel like it,” Benn said._

_They ordered their food and Benn frowned as he watched Shanks. The guy was practically bouncing in his seat. “How much sugar was in your breakfast, Captain?”_

_“Call me Shanks!” Shanks whined._

_“…Are you high on sugar or not, Shanks?” Benn asked._

_“No,” Shanks said._

_“Just checking,” Benn laughed._

_Shanks seemed to deflate a bit, “You know I’m not a kid, Benn.”_

_“You’re barely twenty, so forgive me for disagreeing,” Benn said._

_Shanks sighed, “You know, I’m trying to be nice.”_

_Benn smiled, “Sorry. You leave yourself wide open for that sort of thing, you know.”_

_Shanks rolled his eyes, “Seriously, do you like anything about me at all?”_

_“Shanks, if I didn’t like you I would not have agreed to work for you,” Benn said._

_“Oh. Well…do you like me, you know, outside of me being your captain?”_

_“You’re nice enough,” Benn said. “Why?”_

_“Just wanted to know.”_

_Benn frowned. This was really weird of Shanks. “If you say so.”_

_Shanks was still twitchy. It was getting on his nerves._

_“Okay, spit it out, what’s going on?” he asked after another few minutes of awkward silence._

_“Benn, this is a date,” Shanks said happily._

_“Excuse me?” Benn asked, shocked._

_“This is a date. We’re dating!” Shanks said, looking way too pleased with himself._

_Benn glared at him. The idiot thought he could just declare this a date without even_ asking _? “No, it’s not. You never asked me.”_

_“I asked you to come!” Shanks said._

_“And you left off that it was a date!” Benn groaned. “You always do shit like this! Just…don’t even talk to me until you figure out what you did wrong!”_

_“Huh? Benn!” Shanks called as Benn turned on his heel and walked out. “Hey! Hey get back here!”_

.o.o.o.

 “And then he had to deal with me not talking to him for a week until he figured out he was _supposed_ to _ask_ me on a damn date,” Benn said. “We had fun and decided to get together. The end.”

 “…So, I don’t get it, what’d he do wrong?” Luffy asked, cocking his head. Sabo bonked him with a pillow.

 “He didn’t _tell_ Benn it was a date. So Benn _didn’t know_ he was asking him to go on a date,” Sabo said.

 “So say it’s a date _then_ ask, right?” Ace asked.

 “Right,” Benn said. “Also maybe be polite.”

 “Got it, say please!” Luffy said.

 “Not exactly, Anchor,” Benn laughed. “But close enough.”

 “What going on? Forget to invite me to a family meeting?” Shanks asked, coming in.

 “Nah, story time,” Ace said, grinning.

 “I don’t like that look,” Shanks said. “Benn…what did you tell them?”

 “How you screwed up asking me out,” Benn said.

 Shanks glared at him, “Worst. Pirate husband. Ever.”

 “What’s a pirate husband? Just a husband but a pirate?” Sabo asked.

 “Nah, it’s when two pirates love each other very much but don’t want to deal with a ceremony and crap. They just kind of…are. And smart people know they’re pirate married,” Shanks said.

 “Generally it’s just assumed if you’ve been together for more than five years or so,” Benn said.

 “Just hope I don’t figure out pirate _divorce_ …” Shanks muttered, face fully in a pout as he pulled Luffy onto his lap.

 “That’s called making me walk the plank and no, it’s not happening,” Benn said.

 “Don’t make Benn walk the plank!” Luffy said loudly, looking up at Shanks with wide eyes.

 “Easy, Anchor, I’m not getting rid of Benn, I love him too much,” Shanks said.

 “Besides, now they won’t screw up when they ask someone out,” Benn said.

 Shanks rolled his eyes, “Yeah but that’s eons away. Like, super long. I might even be dead by then. Really it’s not going to happen when I’m around to decide on it-”

 “Shanks is being weird,” Ace told Benn as Shanks kept rambling.

 “Yes he is,” Benn agreed. “Don’t tell him, but I think it’s cute.”

 “Shut up!” Shanks groaned. “You are totally ruining our sons’ image of me!”

 “Nah, you’re all weird like Luffy, so you couldn’t be all cool,” Ace said.

 “ _Hey_!” Luffy wailed. “I can be weird _and_ cool!”

 “Wasn’t this originally about that kid being a dick to Ace for calling him cute?” Sabo asked.

 “ _What_?” Shanks asked darkly.

 “Shanks, no taking vengeance on children, you’re an adult,” Benn said.

 “Of course not!” Shanks said. “…Sabo, Luffy, want some ide-”

 “No!” Benn groaned.

 It took over an hour to talk them out of vengeance. Incidentally, people seeking revenge in his name seemed to cheer Ace up almost as much as the story had. Benn was glad they could put this to rest.

.o.o.o.

 Years later, Luffy would enthusiastically recount his asking out of Trafalgar Law to Benn, reassuring his father that not only had he been totally clear that he meant for them to be boyfriends when asking, but that Luffy had even been extra polite and said please.

 Benn wasn’t sure what was better: that he’d remembered or the mortified look on Law’s face.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ace, Sabo, and Luffy usually only refer to Benn or Shanks as "Dad" in times of stress or when they really need parental help.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is just a fun little thing I'm doing with some mini sidestories set before the timeskip. I'll add tags as I go and people show up in the fic.


End file.
